Of the 46 finishes in the ANA Inspiration dating back to 1972 – from playoffs to runaway victories to splashes in Poppie’s Pond – the final holes of the 2017 event may be the most memorable.

That’s not just because Lexi Thompson incurred four penalty shots from an incident the previous day, or that So Yeon Ryu returned to the winner’s circle in a major championship for the first time in six years. What made the finish at the Dinah Shore Course at Mission Hills Country Club so memorable was the waves it caused in golf, particularly in golf’s rule book.

Ryu won the tournament in a playoff, but golf can forever look back on the 2017 event as the tournament that spawned the “Lexi rule.”

Within a month of the ANA Inspiration last year, golf’s ruling bodies made changes to rules governing a player violating a rule without knowledge and without intent. By the end of the year, the rules had also changed on violations reported by callers or e-mailers and on whether a player could be penalized for signing an incorrect scorecard in certain situations.

While there had been other incidents in recent years, the final day of the ANA Inspiration, which Ryu won in the midst of two hours of chaos, seemed to be a tipping point in the call to modify some of golf’s rules.

“I know we had a lot of hassle last year, but what I think is no matter what was going on I just did what I was able to do,” Ryu said. “And then I was able to grab the trophy.”

Ryu was one of the chasers Sunday afternoon of Thompson, who was leading the tournament by two shots and who was 3-under on the day as she walked off the 12th green. In the next few minutes, the tournament flip-flopped.

LPGA rules officials told Thompson she was being handed a two-shot penalty for an incorrect marking of her ball on her 17th hole the previous day. Because those two penalty shots were not reflected on Thompson’s third-round scorecard, Thompson was assessed two additional penalty shots for signing an incorrect scorecard for a total of four penalty shots. Thompson went from two shots ahead to two shots behind in an instant.

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Lexi Thompson holds back tears as she walks to the green of the 18th hole at the ANA Inspiration, Sunday, April 2, 2017.(Photo: Zoe Meyers/The Desert Sun)

The immediate beneficiary of the penalties was Ryu, who was several holes ahead and had no idea what had happened behind her.

“To be honest, obviously, I got a lot of questions about what was going on on Sunday,” Ryu said. “But right now, what I think of is just feeling really proud of becoming the ANA Inspiration champion.”

By the time Ryu lifted the trophy after winning a playoff with Thompson, there were already calls for the rules that hit Thompson that day to be changed. The specific rule, Rule 20-7c, was enforced because a video replay showed Thompson placed her ball back on the green in the previous round Saturday in a slightly different position.

The LPGA had been alerted to the possible violation by an e-mailer that the LPGA deemed credible. LPGA rules official Sue Witters said she didn’t believe Thompson had intentionally done anything wrong, but that Witters had to enforce the rules. The scorecard penalty, Rule 6-6d, also had to be enforced.

But just weeks after the controversy, the United States Golf Association and the R and A, which oversee the rules of golf around the world, responded to the outcry.

The USGA modified the rule to give officials the power to decide if a penalty is warranted or not. In other words, if the rules official believed that an infraction was unintentional and perhaps even imperceptible, they can now say that no penalty will be added to a player’s score. Officials could ask if a player used reasonable judgment in an action that later could be deemed a violation.

The officials still retain the right to apply any penalty shots if they deem that the violation was perceivable with the naked eye or if the violation was in some way impactful to the competition.

“We recognize there is more work to be done. Advancements in video technology are enhancing the viewing experience for fans but can also significantly affect the competition,” said USGA executive director/CEO Mike Davis in a statement announcing the changes. “We need to balance those advances with what is fair for all players when applying the rules.”

Those changes weren’t enough for some critics, and the USGA continued the changes in December when the organization announced that call-ins – or the e-mails as was the case at the ANA Inspiration – would no longer be considered in assessing penalties. This had been a sore point with some traditionalists who believed that only rules officials or fans on site should be allowed to report possible violations.

In addition, the two-shot penalty for signing an incorrect scorecard was eliminated for players who signed a card believing it was correct. In other words, how could Thompson have known she was signing an incorrect card Saturday when she wasn’t made aware of the violation until Sunday?

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So Yeon Ryu was at Mission Hills Country Club in Rancho Mirage Tuesday talking about her victory in the ANA Inspiration last year
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In response to the rules changes in December, Thompson took to Twitter to support the changes.

“I applaud the USGA and the R&A for their willingness to revise the Rules of Golf to address certain unfortunate situations that have arisen several times in the game of golf," Thompson said.

"In my case, I am thankful that no one else will have to deal with an outcome such as mine in the future."

In the end, the LPGA and others believe the Rules of Golf as they were written on the final Sunday of the 2017 ANA Inspiration were enforced correctly. But perhaps the rules had not kept up with the technological advances in the world, and that required some changes to those same rules.